Unto his protégée; while hers, transfix'd
With infant terrors, glared as from a trance,
A pure, transparent, pale, yet radiant face,
Like to a lighted alabaster vase ; —

XCVII.

Up came John Johnson (I will not say

“Jack,"

For that were vulgar, cold, and common-place

On great occasions, such as an attack

On cities, as hath been the present case): Up Johnson came, with hundreds at his back, Exclaiming :- "Juan! Juan! On, boy! brace Your arm, and I'll bet Moscow to a dollar That you and I will win St. George's collar. (1)

XCVIII.

"The Seraskier is knock'd upon the head,
But the stone bastion still remains, wherein
The old Pacha sits among some hundreds dead,
Smoking his pipe quite calmly 'midst the din
Of our artillery and his own: 'tis said

Our kill'd, already piled up to the chin,
Lie round the battery; but still it batters,
And grape in volleys, like a vineyard, scatters.

XCIX.

"Then up with me!"-But Juan answer'd, "Look
Upon this child—I saved her—must not leave
Her life to chance; but point me out some nook
Of safety, where she less may shrink and grieve,

(1) A Russian military order.

And I am with you."— Whereon Johnson took A glance around—and shrugg'd-and twitch'd his sleeve

And black silk neckcloth-and replied, "You're right; Poor thing! what's to be done? I'm puzzled quite."

C.

Said Juan- "Whatsoever is to be

Done, I'll not quit her till she seems secure Of present life a good deal more than we.". Quoth Johnson-" Neither will I quite ensure; But at the least you may die gloriously."

Juan replied

"At least I will endure

Whate'er is to be borne-but not resign

This child, who is parentless, and therefore mine."

CI.

Johnson said "Juan, we've no time to lose;
The child's a pretty child- a very pretty-
I never saw such eyes-but hark! now choose
Between your fame and feelings, pride and pity;—
Hark! how the roar increases! -no excuse

Will serve when there is plunder in a city ;-
I should be loath to march without you, but,
By God! we'll be too late for the first cut."

CII.

But Juan was immoveable; until

Johnson, who really loved him in his way, Pick'd out amongst his followers with some skill Such as he thought the least given up to prey;

And swearing if the infant came to ill

That they should all be shot on the next day; But if she were deliver'd safe and sound, They should at least have fifty rubles round,

CIII.

And all allowances besides of plunder

In fair proportion with their comrades ;—then Juan consented to march on through thunder, Which thinn'd at every step their ranks of men: And yet the rest rush'd eagerly-no wonder,

For they were heated by the hope of gain, A thing which happens every where each day— No hero trusteth wholly to half pay.

CIV.

And such is victory, and such is man!

At least nine tenths of what we call so;-God May have another name for half we scan

As human beings, or his ways are odd. But to our subject: a brave Tartar khan

Or "sultan," as the author (to whose nod In prose I bend my humble verse) doth call This chieftain-somehow would not yield at all:

CV.

But flank'd by five brave sons, (such is polygamy,
That she spawns warriors by the score, where none
Are prosecuted for that false crime bigamy),
He never would believe the city won

While courage clung but to a single twig.— Am I Describing Priam's, Peleus', or Jove's son?

Neither but a good, plain, old, temperate man, Who fought with his five children in the van. (1)

CVI.

To take him was the point. The truly brave,
When they behold the brave oppress'd with odds,
Are touch'd with a desire to shield and save; —
A mixture of wild beasts and demi-gods
Are they-now furious as the sweeping wave,
Now moved with pity: even as sometimes nods
The rugged tree unto the summer wind,
Compassion breathes along the savage mind.

CVII.

But he would not be taken, and replied
To all the propositions of surrender
By mowing Christians down on every side,

As obstinate as Swedish Charles at Bender. (2)
His five brave boys no less the foe defied;
Whereon the Russian pathos grew less tender,
As being a virtue, like terrestrial patience,
Apt to wear out on trifling provocations.

(1) ["Le sultan périt dans l'action en brave homme, digne d'un meilleur destin; ce fut lui qui rallia les Turcs lorsque l'ennemi pénétra dans le place: ce sultan, d'une valeur éprouvée, surpassait en générosité les plus civilisés de sa nation; cinq de ses fils combattaient à ses côtés, il les encourageait par son exemple.” — Hist. de la N. R. tom. iii. p. 215.]

(2) " At Bender, after the fatal battle of Pultawa, Charles gave a proof of that unreasonable obstinacy, which occasioned all his misfortunes in Turkey. When advised to write to the grand vizier, according to the custom of the Turks, he said it was beneath his dignity. The same obstinacy placed him necessarily at variance with all the ministers of the Porte." VOLTAIRE.]

CVIII.

And spite of Johnson and of Juan, who
Expended all their Eastern phraseology
In begging him, for God's sake, just to show
So much less fight as might form an apology
For them in saving such a desperate foe-

He hew'd away, like doctors of theology
When they dispute with sceptics; and with curses
Struck at his friends, as babies beat their nurses.

CIX.

Nay, he had wounded, though but slightly, both
Juan and Johnson; whereupon they fell,
The first with sighs, the second with an oath,
Upon his angry sultanship, pell-mell,
And all around were grown exceeding wroth
At such a pertinacious infidel,

And pour'd upon him and his sons like rain,
Which they resisted like a sandy plain

CX.

That drinks and still is dry. At last they perish'd-
His second son was levell'd by a shot;

His third was sabred; and the fourth, most cherish'd
Of all the five, on bayonets met his lot;
The fifth, who, by a Christian mother nourish'd,
Had been neglected, ill-used, and what not,
Because deform'd, yet died all game and bottom,
To save a sire who blush'd that he begot him.